There was the Olympic discus thrower, the retired airport pilot and the father who can no longer win a set off his son.

Winning men’s singles titles at the Alpine Hills Senior Sectional in Portola Valley isn’t what made Thursday’s champions compelling storylines. It’s the wide range of life experiences that converged on the tennis courts at the Alpine Hills Tennis and Swim Club.

“The club has a great culture of community,” said Eric Quade, who took over as general manager at Alpine Hills five months ago. “And this tournament is kind of part of that for the tennis community, not only just in the Portola Valley but in the whole Peninsula.”

The 52-year-old Quade won the men’s 50 singles division after top-seeded Mark McKeen, who was a four-year starter at Stanford in the 1980s, tweaked a knee and retired down 7-5, 2-2 at the USTA NorCal senior circuit event.

“It’s kind of revisiting old times,” said Quade, who played at UC Irvine while McKeen was on The Farm. “It was nice to come out victorious, but it would have been better if he wouldn’t have been injured and we could have played it out. Win or lose, it’s always better to finish the match.”

The oldest champion was Ian Reed. The Woodside resident competed for Australia in the discus at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland. A month ago at Chabot College in Hayward, Reed recorded the best discus throw for his age group since 2006 — 41 inches off the world record.

“I just started throwing the discus again after 61 years,” the 86-year-old said.

Competitive tennis is a new hobby for Reed, who won 6-2, 6-2 on Thursday to prevail in a round-robin competition between three entries in men’s 85 singles.

It nearly took three sets to determine a champion in the men’s 65 singles bracket. This summer marks the return of Mountain View’s David Weber to the competitive senior circuit after roughly a six-year absence.

“I was a pilot for American and I extended my career from 60 to 65, so I just retired in May,” the 65-year-old said.

Weber kept busy prior to retirement. He stayed in shape and has worked with a coach for the past year and a half. But there is no substitute for live matches.

“I’m just trying to get the competitive ability to hit the ball when I have to,” Weber said.

The results were positive at Alpine Hills after a 6-4, 4-6, 4-3 (ret.) victory over top-seeded Dick Svedeman of Los Altos. The tight, back-and-forth match ended after a close call put Weber ahead in the third set and Svedeman retired.

Svedeman is the boys tennis coach at St. Francis-Mountain View, though it’s unsure how many of his student-athletes are aware of the extent of his skills with a racket.

“I think some of them probably do, but I don’t try to show that,” Svedeman said. “I work on their games and give them my time for the 3½ months in season. I think the emphasis should be on nothing else than teaching good manners, how to play with pride and play hard.”

Jay Gray of Menlo Park showed why he was the No. 1 seed in both singles and doubles for the men’s 60 field. A basketball standout during his days at Awalt High in Mountain View, tennis is the 63-year-old’s second love.

“When I got too old to play basketball, I switched to tennis,” said Gray, whose father played until he was 90 years old.

Gray, who plays 10 to 15 tournaments a year, took care of business 6-3, 6-3 to win singles, which he prefers over doubles.

But the older he gets, the more doubles becomes appealing. Gray teamed with Dennis Olson of Mountain View to claim the doubles title 6-3, 6-0.

“You have to learn to age,” Gray said. “That’s what it is. I don’t know that I’m any better than strategy-wise than I used to be. If I can’t get to balls, then I can’t get to balls. And it’s upsetting because you slow down a step or two.

“And every year you get worse,” he added with a laugh.

Father time always wins, a lesson Sidney Newcomb of Redwood City knows all too well.

“I’ve got no game compared to Shep,” the 47-year-old said in regard to his oldest son, a standout player at Woodside High who just completed his freshman year of college.

Newcomb recalled how from an early stage, every time he played a set with Shep a $1 bill would find its way into their “dollar jar.”

“And then the deal is, whenever he won a set he gets the dollars,” Newcomb said. “And when he was 16, I’ve never won a set since. There was something like $300 stuffed in this jar. Now it’s been three years since I’ve won a set off him.”

It was a different story against top-seeded Jonathan Radin of Los Altos Hills in the men’s 45 singles final as Newcomb won 6-4, 6-3.

“I don’t feel I have a lot of power or anything, but I ran a lot,” Newcomb said. “I made him work for it.”

But it was hard not to sneak a peek at the adjacent court, where Reed was throwing his weight around in the men’s 85 singles match.

Vytas Mazeika is a sports reporter at The Daily News based out of Menlo Park. He covers athletics at every level, from high school to Stanford to the pros. He also designs the sports pages and copy edits for The Daily News print edition. Mazeika graduated from Carlmont High in 1994 and earned an English bachelor's degree from UCLA.

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